Up in the Clouds
by Rhice
Summary: The City's Central Library is a mysterious place. Rows upon rows and shelves upon shelves filled with books of knowledge and ancient magic. Corners turning into each other. Every turn leads to somewhere else, a deserted corridor or a huge empty chamber.


**Up in the Clouds** _by Rhice_

_AU._ The City's Central Library is a mysterious place. Rows upon rows and shelves upon shelves filled with books of knowledge and ancient magic. Corners turning into each other. Every turn leads to somewhere else, a deserted corridor or a huge empty chamber.

* * *

Being a librarian was career most healthy young men my age wouldn't think of pursuing.

I'm only 21.

Of course I've revised my decision once and over.

Because in our kingdom, you stick to whichever profession you choose. There was no turning back.

I could have easily been a dashing Royal Guard. With the golden badges, buttons and cuffs on a smart blood red uniform, and doing all those noble things all those noble Guards do.

Or I would have been a great scholar helping out at the National Research Lab looking for the next remarkable breakthrough. My professors have always told me I've got enough brains for an entire class.

Or a pilot or a mariner in the Force would've been more fitting for someone like me, I suppose.

It wasn't that a librarian wasn't a respectable job. That wasn't the case at all. In fact, it's next in the academic line to a University Professor. That's even higher than the Research Scholar.

The issue is that I am a _City Central_ Librarian; a job of the highest honour and qualifications. Yet, not the most sought after.

Why you ask?

They call it the straight path to oblivion. A suicide mission for no one, some would add.

...

Let me spell it out for you:

The City Central Library**: **an ancient building whose foundations date back to beyond your imagination of beyond.

My theory is that it probably started out as a small little brick building, which is where the main office is now located. And as people came in and out of the settlement, exploring the lands outside the city walls and across the sea (and years later: the skies), records came in, books were compiled, and stories were written.

The place needed to expand. So it did.

Hypothetically.

Too much was written at once. They didn't keep a proper record of it all. Multitudes of works went forgotten. Hundreds of bound books collected dust, packed away into some obscure corner. As space became scarcer, construction was underway to break down a wall, to build a room; for the storage of even more scrolls.

More space. They needed more space.

All that printed materials packed off and forgotten…

And under all the forgotten-ness there lay a danger.

Too many things happened at once. More rooms were built to accommodate the growing amount of scrolls and books containing the immense influx of information. Some rooms remained unused, while some were too used; until there was no way of getting inside. And the empty rooms were soon overshadowed by shelves.

There were rooms with rooms with corridors leading to other rooms, behind huge bookshelves obscuring entrances further in. They surrounded the library and stacked upon it, soon after.

It became a huge labyrinth. Hive-like, with larvae in the form of stacks of bound paper.

...

The Central Library now stands with a circular main central area open to public for easy browsing of the latest publications. A grand area.

Gleaming white marble floors, oak doors with gold handles, brightly painted glass windows, winding gold staircases leading to their little floors with in-wall storage and the dome-shaped ceiling decorated by a mural depicting the significant events from the City's recorded history.

They were all neatly organized and well-kept by the junior librarians. Appealing enough to attract the average reader.

Not many knew of the mess in the other floors, in the other spaces, in the rooms with no flooring and doors made of cheap wood, or not there at all. Rooms where only the _real_ Central City Librarians get access to.

There were only 20 of us.

And I was one of them.

* * *

**Rhice** Greetings! I've had this story in my folder for a _long_ time. _2 years_ I believe! I kind of forgot where I wanted to go with the details of the story. But I knew it was interesting enough for me to want to develop a proper story. I had a pre-written chapter 2 from which I now need to figure out the original dynamics I wanted. An update will not be until, _at least_, early December I believe. Creative writing has been on pause for me, so I'm quite rusty. Beg your pardon if the plot seems disjointed, odd or unexciting. Any feedback will be much loved. Thank you for reading and look out for the furthering! :D

_P.S. _I would love to know how to create huge spaces for paragraphing without resorting to little dots when I'm not writing in a scene change.


End file.
